The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would prevent healthcare facilities that receive Title X funding from directly referring patients to abortion services and would require that no abortion services happen in the same facility as a Title X funded program. This means that healthcare providers would not be allowed to provide patients with complete and accurate information about all their care options, even if patients directly ask about it. Health centers that provide abortions would need to have a seperate phone number, website, email address, and clinic entrance for those services in order for their other programs to receive Title X funding.

How will this affect health care access?

This would effectively defund Planned Parenthood, which provides care to 41 percent of Title X patients nationally. This loss of funding will reduce the capacity of reporductive health providers at a time that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting an alarming rise in STD cases. Community Health Centers do not have the capacity to absorb all of Planned Parenthood’s patients and in some communities, Planned parenthood is the only Title X clinic. Additionally, Community Health Centers may not be able to accept Title X funds under the new rules because the referral restrictions could make them legally liable for medical injuries due to negligence. All of these problems will drastically reduce the number of health centers that can provide family planning and reroductive healthcare services which will impact the well-being of everyone.

Under current law, Title X funded facilities must provide pregnant women with unbiased information about all available options, including abortion services if they ask. The Trump administration would like to remove this rule which would allow facilities that do not provide complete health information or have medical staff, sometimes called “crisis pregnancy centers”, to receive funding. This is dangerous because it allows biased, incomplete, and sometimes incorrect medical information to be spread.

How does this affect the patient-provider relationship?

This policy puts the federal government between patients and healthcare providers and threatens the availability of high-quality reproductive healthcare services for more than 1,000,000 low-income Californians. Health care decisions should be made between a patient and their provider without the federal government deciding what options are accessible to low-income patients.

What can you do?

Senator Harris, Senator Feinstein, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra are ready to fight this change to Title X funding, but you can help them by participating in the comment period before July 31st which will slow down the legislative process and provide material for a legal case to stop this change. After you submit your comment, make sure to spread the word on social media so we can get as many comments as possible!